This is a collection of news about border issues, particularly those seen from Arizona and regarding the right to keep and bear arms. Sources often include Mexican media. It's often interesting to see how different the view is from the south.
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Thursday, December 15, 2011

AZMEX UPDATE 13-12-11

MORE DRUG SMUGGLERS WALKING IN THE AZ DESERTLast Updated on Tuesday, 13 December 2011 04:17Written by AZBDNewsTuesday, 13 December 2011 04:14We continue to get video of drug smugglers in the AZ desert, far north of the AZ/Mexico border. This video has a closeup of the carpet some of the drug smugglers and illegal aliens use to make their footprints harder to track.Video from a trail camera placed by the AZ Border Defenders of 5 drug smugglers 30 miles north of the border.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKull9ab2CU&feature=channel_video_title

The U.S. Border Patrol says one of its agents used a Taser to subdue a suspect in Nogales who fled a drug-loaded vehicle and made a threatening move towards the agent.

According to the Border Patrol, the unidentified agent tried to stop a suspicious vehicle last Thursday near the intersection of Western Avenue and Kitchen Street. However, instead of stopping, the vehicle accelerated.

"The agent followed at a safe distance and observed the sole occupant jump from the moving vehicle and run into a nearby park. The vehicle rolled into a fence and came to a stop," the agency said in a news release issued Friday.

"As the agent chased the subject on foot, the subject turned and advanced on the agent while reaching under his shirt. When the subject failed to comply with the agent's verbal commands to stop and get on the ground, the agent used a service-issued electronic control device, also known as a Taser, to immediately defuse the situation," the news release said.

The agent then secured the suspect - who was not identified by name, sex or nationality by the Border Patrol - and reportedly found a holstered knife beneath the person's shirt.

The Border Patrol said one of its emergency medical technicians examined the suspect, but he/she declined additional medical attention.

Agents subsequently located 243 pounds of marijuana in the abandoned vehicle, and the drugs and vehicle were transported to the Nogales Station for further processing.

The suspect was held for federal prosecution, the Border Patrol said.

Stolen gunAlso on Thursday, Nogales Border Patrol agents working at the Interstate 19 checkpoint stopped a minor who was carrying a gun that had been reported stolen.

According to the Border Patrol, agents referred a vehicle for secondary inspection after a canine alert. Subsequent record checks revealed the driver, a minor, was arrested in November for a narcotics violation, and that neither occupant had a valid driver license.

The agents contacted the Arizona Department of Public Safety, and during a subsequent search, DPS officers reportedly discovered two firearms inside the waistbands of the two occupants' pants.

The weapon recovered from the minor had been reported stolen, the Border Patrol said. Both weapons were seized and the minor with the stolen gun was arrested for illegal possession of a firearm.

EDINBURG — Hidalgo County Sheriff's investigators released two of three hunters detained following a shooting at Betty Harwell Middle School Monday evening.

The third, an illegal immigrant, was arrested and is facing several criminal charges, including poaching, trespassing and illegal use of a firearm, Sheriff Lupe Treviño said.

Investigators believe stray bullets wounded two teenage boys as they tried out for the school's basketball team about 4:45 p.m, Treviño said.

Investigators, however, have not been able to trace the bullets to any of the three hunters yet, he added.

The victims remained hospitalized Tuesday in stable condition, school officials said. A 14-year-old suffered a gunshot wound to the right side of his upper torso, while a 13-year-old was treated for a wound near his right armpit.

Authorities have not released the victims' identities.

Coaches held the tryouts outside of the school in a parking lot on the campus' west side because the gym was in use, Superintendent Rene Gutierrez said.

Harwell Middle School, however, occupies a roughly 40-acre plot bordered by hundreds of acres of ranchland leased to deer hunters. A wooded area begins about 400 yards from the school's western fence line, where investigators believe the stray bullets came from.

Sheriff's deputies arrested the suspect that remained in custody Tuesday after a pilot aboard a Texas Department of Public Safety chopper spotted him hunting north of the campus with a .223-caliber assault rifle, Treviño said.

Deputies worked to determine how he obtained the firearm as federal law prohibits illegal immigrants from possessing one.

The two other hunters — released Tuesday morning — were detained on land leased to deer hunters that borders that campus' north and west sides, investigators said Monday evening. Those hunters were target shooting with .30-caliber rifles.

TUESDAY MORNINGStudents slowly trickled in Tuesday morning to Harwell Middle School while more than a dozen concerned parents gathered at the school's library, where administrators tried to answer their questions.

Traffic at the middle school was light, but officials won't know exactly how many students didn't show up for classes until later today, the superintendent said.